# Analytics event schema broken: pre-release checklist

Source: https://releasefailures.com/incidents/analytics-event-schema-broken/
Content version: 1.0.0
Verified on: 2026-10-21
Licence: CC BY 4.0

Definition: Tracking events change shape and downstream dashboards or experiments break.
- [ ] PR-01 Run the capture script integration suite against every snippet version still installed on client sites, not only the upcoming one. (test class: Integration tests)
- [ ] PR-02 Log a custom event with three properties through the new capture script in staging and confirm the stored event holds all three properties. (test class: Integration tests)
- [ ] PR-03 Define a contract for each tracked event with its exact name and property keys and types, and fail the build when a release changes any of them. (test class: Contract tests)
- [ ] PR-04 Compare the event names in a data export from staging with the tracking plan and fail the release when any name differs. (test class: Contract tests)
- [ ] PR-05 Send a test event with a fixed name and property set to production every hour and alert when it arrives with a different name or missing properties. (test class: Synthetic monitoring)
- [ ] PR-06 Send the hourly test event through each destination type in use, including both the newer actions destination and the legacy classic destination. (test class: Synthetic monitoring)
- [ ] PR-07 Send a test event with a fixed name every hour and alert when the schema lists it under any other name. (test class: Synthetic monitoring)